Clinton's team points out these aren't the first Weather Channel ads they've run, and dispute the view that they'd, arguing the buy was a small part of a big shifting in TV resources the campaign routinely does. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

The Clinton campaign had purchased Weather Channel ads in the key swing state as the storm approached in a seeming effort to target those in affected areas glued to the TV for storm news. But they're now asking for those ads to be delayed in Florida following harsh criticism that they were looking to take advantage of fearful voters looking for storm information.

Advertisement

Clinton's team points out these aren't the first Weather Channel ads they've run, and dispute the view that they'd, arguing the buy was a small part of a big shifting in TV resources the campaign routinely does. But they're bowing to pressure and asking to delay the spots until after the storm passes.

"Earlier in the week we made changes to our TV ad reservations across hundreds of stations in several battleground states including Florida," Clinton campaign spokesman Jesse Ferguson told the Daily News in a statement. "Less than 1% of those changes included the Weather Channel. We have requested that stations in Florida delay any of those ads on the Weather Channel until after the storm passes."

Hurricane Matthew lashes Southeast U.S.

The Weather Channel, unsurprisingly, gets a big bump in viewership during major natural disasters. Clinton's campaign didn't say it plans to pull down ads on the channel airing outside of Florida, in other swing states like Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.